Project Engineer Intern Review

The work overall was really varied in terms of workload and often the work itself was using really basic skills that could've been done with just GCSEs. It became more enjoyable when I moved to the Crossrail team being able to go on and help a huge project like that but even then the initial skillset needed for the work was very low and just felt like I was not being challenged/used enough.

The environment is overall pretty good, people are very friendly and will help explain new concepts relating to the job if you don't understand anything. There's work socials throughout the year and it's pretty easy to chat to most of the guys working around me about anything work or not.

My managers were quite good at explaining how to do things like timesheets and anytime I had issues with submitting forms or gaining access to certain things they would always chase up the relevant people fairly quickly to make sure my issue was resolved. There was also a lot of support available to any issues outside of work (had problems with a housemate who was a grad).

This was my major problem with the role/industry, the company's work comes in 5 year periods as given by Network Rail, I joined during the last few months of one these periods and first months of the next meaning that there was a bit of work at the beginning but because I was so new I was unable to help and all the other big projects had been finished and then there was not much to do at the beginning of the next period. Had many weeks where I only had one day's worth of work over an entire week and so obviously got ridiculously bored during the time. This then completely flipped towards the end of my placement when I asked to join the Crossrail team (because of how little I was doing) as it was still ongoing and separate from Network Rail where I then ended up regularly working 55+ hours a week and not having a full weekend for months.

During the first part of my internship I was sometimes given work to do using SharePoint to create/update sites used by departments and it would generally be given just to me so I had full responsibility for how these sites turned out. During my time with helping to test Crossrail, I would be responsible for writing reports on all details of each testing shift and would be relied upon for details if any tests had failed to help analyse what the fault was. I was also asked to compile results and details from each testing shift into tables that are were used in meetings between Siemens and Crossrail.

As mentioned previously the skills I used were very basic and there was a lot more of a reliance on soft skills over hard skills. The rail industry is very specific so any of the technical knowledge I did learn I don't see myself using in any other job in the future/in my degree.

Most people around me were chatty so it was easy to pass time talking whenever there wasn't much work to do. Most people were friendly and pretty normal (few exceptions), it's generally been a relaxed atmosphere and people are always up for stopping work for a bit and having a chat when you're not too busy.

This was really poorly done, there was no whatsapp group setup between the interns (this was done for grads though) and apart from an intern who sat across from me and another one who I lived with we didn't know about any interns in the office for months just because they were in a different building. In terms of the actual internship itself managers didn't really know what our skillset was and (in my opinion) they thought we knew nothing and didn't give us much challenging work because they thought we wouldn't be able to do it. There was no communication between the training/development team and our managers so our managers didn't really know what to do with us.

We had some training sessions that Siemens hired from external companies, we got to travel for these and meet interns from other Siemens departments like finance/gamesa. The training themselves were kinda hit or miss, some had a lot of skills that I'd definitely see myself using whilst others just seemed like a waste of time and come down to common sense.

The company really wants to retain interns for the graduate program so as long as you don't majorly mess it up I think it's pretty easy to get back in and they'd fast track you through the graduate application program. If you didn't like the job specifically you can easily apply for a different department and it would still be a lot easier so any department is open.

Probably the best part of the placement, there was only 1 other intern but out of pure luck I managed to meet the grads by being put on the training that is normally just for them because I happened to join on the same date as them. The grads were really great and I'm definitely glad I met them, went for drinks after work, went out on socials etc.

The site is based in Chippenham which is a tiny town in the west country, if I was a grad I would definitely recommend living in Bath instead because you'd actually have something to do. I lived in Chippenham in a houseshare with another intern and grad and was paying ~£320pcm so basically nothing, drinks are pretty cheap there's a spoons in town but most pubs are cheap as well. There's an Aldi and Lidl so pretty cheap weekly shop here as well.

Again not much going in this town beyond going to the gym or going to the market in town. Think there's some running clubs you can join. There are some festivals in the summer like folk/beer/cider festivals but on a weekly basis really not that much to do. Best thing to do is get on a train at the station and leave for the weekend.